Seven Pathways: Generative AI's Impact on Labor Markets

Seven Pathways: Generative AI’s Impact on Labor Markets

It’s 2023, and generative AI tools are taking the world by storm. And while enthusiasts are excited to witness the rapid development of the technology and discover all the ways it can prove to be useful, many also fear that it will lead to mass unemployment.

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Like most cases, the truth is probably somewhere in the middle. To help you know what to expect and better prepare yourself, we’re listing down some of our top predictions on how generative AI will change the job market in the next few years.

1. AI Prompt Engineering Will Be a Desired Skill

The rise of generative AI tools has given birth to a new skill: prompt engineering. The idea behind it is simple: since the responses you get from an AI tool are heavily dependent on how well you describe your query, it has become important to learn how to write good prompts .

As a prompt engineer, your job is to optimize the large language model of an AI tool by crafting prompts that elicit specific responses, while identifying errors and untapped capabilities.

Ultimately, the goal here is to make the AI tool smarter, faster, more intuitive, more creative, more accurate, more conversational, and less likely to hallucinate when talking to a user. If you’re interested, you can start your career in prompt engineering today to be future-ready.

2. Fact-Checking Will Become a Major Career

One of the biggest problems with text-based generative AI tools such as ChatGPT is inaccuracy. When you talk to ChatGPT, you instinctively trust what it is saying. However, keep in mind that these AI tools don’t actually know if what they are saying is true and simply present information in a way that seems human-like and is therefore perceived as trustworthy.

In other words, there is a clear gap that needs to be solved. To fill that gap is the job of fact-checkers. And as these AI tools become mainstream, we will require an increasing number of fact-checkers working behind the scenes to make sure the bots give reliable and accurate information and limit the spread of misinformation.

To do this, we envision companies like Google and Microsoft hiring massive teams of fact-checkers in the near future to train their AI-powered search engines like Bard and Bing Chat.

3. Productivity Will Skyrocket for White-Collar Workers

We saw how Google is integrating generative AI in Google Workspace apps such as Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and more. Microsoft is doing the same with its Office 365 suite of productivity apps. Many more companies are implementing the tech on their own products too.

Since these generative AI capabilities in workspace apps are still in testing and haven’t been fully rolled out yet, you might dismiss them as a fad. But that would be a huge mistake. Once developed and available to everyone, these AI tools will help skyrocket productivity for white-collar workers around the world.

Work that used to require hours, such as preparing quarterly reports, business presentations, marketing campaigns, newsletters, and a lot more, will be done in a few minutes.

For some, this might be alarming, as they fear they might lose their jobs. And though that is a valid fear, you may find reassurance in knowing the reasons AI can’t replace humans at work . What’s perhaps more likely is that AI will simply remove the drudgery out of office work and allow more room for planning and creative thought.

4. Creative Jobs Will Become Much Easier

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Speaking of creativity, creative AI tools like DALL-E and Midjourney have taken the art world by storm. We won’t get into how many artists are protesting against the use of such tools, as they deem it unfair to have them use their copyrighted artwork for reference.

On a more practical note, creative AI tools will allow artists, graphic designers, interior designers, fashion designers, and product designers to work and come up with new ideas much faster. By having the AI create a rough first draft for you, it allows you the flexibility to quickly make tweaks and adjustments later on to churn out original content faster.

In fact, we have already started seeing AI tools that can produce original music in the unique style of a specific artist, so it could be possible that musicians and songwriters will use this technology in the near future as well.

Generative AI hasn’t quite mastered video creation yet, but given the rapid advancement of these tools, we wouldn’t be surprised if we start seeing AI-made videos that are watchable (if not great) by the end of 2023. Once good enough, filmmakers may use the tech for inspiration too.

Planning, organizing, designing, and scheduling a social media campaign is no easy task. There are so many things that you need to keep in mind, such as your brand image, tonality, target audience, brand colors, style guide, and more. It’s a job that requires an entire team of creative people.

With generative AI, however, that may no longer be the case. We may soon see the launch of AI tools so capable, they can run month-long social media campaigns all by themselves with little to no oversight.

All you’ll need to do, as a social media manager, is simply type your requirements along with contextual specifics such as company history, product description, target audience, tonality, and the timeline of the campaign. The tool will take care of the rest; it’ll create designs, schedule posts, put up stories, and respond to comments on your behalf.

6. Automation Will Lead to Shorter Workdays

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Given how generative AI will allow many of us to work much faster than before, it’s fair to assume that some jobs will see a decline in the number of hours required, leading to shorter workdays.

Since human capital will become less necessary going forward, companies will increasingly embrace automation in white-collar jobs. But since some level of human intervention will still be required, employees in some industries will be asked to work fewer hours.

7. Blue-Collar Jobs Will Become Far More Lucrative

Blue-collar jobs such as farmer, plumber, electrician, mechanic, construction worker, and more are likely to become far more lucrative than ever before in history—perhaps even more than some white-collar jobs. Why? Because unlike white-collar work, many blue-collar jobs require manual labor and cannot be easily automated.

Generative AI can easily learn the patterns of a desk job and produce useful results, but all of those capabilities are limited to software. This is not to say that AI isn’t used in some blue-collar jobs, as it is, but software alone can’t fix a leaky toilet, plow land, build a house, perform pest control, remove dents from your car, or repair a broken air conditioner.

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Adapt and Work With AI

The trends we’ve listed above may not happen instantly, but given the rate at which generative AI is improving, it would be foolish to think that it won’t affect the job market and your place in it.

Some jobs will be impacted more than others by the rise of these generative AI tools, and the best way to ensure you remain relevant in the future is to upskill yourself in areas where AI has not yet reached its full potential.